more than 40,000 syrians have been killed, cal was have been injured. refugees surged into neighboring turkey, jordan, lebanon and iraq taxing the limits of those countries and creating a regional crisis. assad's escalation of violence has reached the point where fighter jets have been used to kill civilians according to human-rights watch. hard to comprehend that happening in any country but that is what has played out. this regime's shocking capacity for widespread terror will only grow as we see reports that chemical weapons have been prepared for use. international institutions will largely remain on the sidelines, held hostage by the reprehensible policies of the russian and chinese governments. maybe there is change. we will see what happens. the administration was right to initially work with the united nations but unfortunately due to chinese and russian in transitions these efforts have only served to prolong suffering of the syrian people. we need a new course. ambassador ford, you heard from him already, ambassador ford has led the charge in